


What Spring Is Like On Jupiter and Mars

by Chash



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-10
Updated: 2010-09-10
Packaged: 2017-10-24 14:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/264370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chash/pseuds/Chash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen's summer job at the Air and Space Museum might not make him many friends, or make him more popular, but it has its perks.  Until Jared Padalecki comes in with his douchey friends and a bunch of campers.  As far as Jensen's concerned, that's gonna suck.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Spring Is Like On Jupiter and Mars

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Unrepentant jerk!Jake Abel, mentions of bullying, some small children.

As summer jobs go, the Air and Space Museum is really a mixed bag. The biggest problem is that Jensen already has a reputation as a huge dork, and working at a place that sells _Star Trek_ paraphernalia isn't exactly helping. And, of course, it's loud and busy and is, generally speaking, either really boring or really stressful, with no middle ground.

But Jensen _is_ a huge dork, so he does think all the stuff is really cool, and none of the people there are actually from his school, so he doesn't have years of baggage of being Jensen Ackles. He was pretty much unpopular from the first time he moved here, in third grade, when everyone made fun of his Texas accent and his weight, and even now when he's slimmed down a lot and lost his accent, some people still call him cowboy and make oinking noises when he passes. And, of course, there's the gay thing. That doesn't help.

And those same people sometimes come into the museum and ask if he's going to beam them up and are generally dickheads. Which he figures he'll pay for come fall.

But for now, it actually isn't bad, until he spots Jared Padalecki, a head taller than most other people, and surrounded by a gaggle of kids, and Danneel Harris.

"Oh _shit_ ," he tells Leighton, ducking behind his discovery cart. "Oh shit oh shit."

"What?" asks Leighton. She's a very pretty girl, and is actually brutally smart and amazing, and if Jensen wasn't really gay he'd totally ask her out.

"That's--they're from my school. The tall kid and the redhead."

"Wow," says Leighton, raising her eyebrows. "For teenagers, they've sure been busy. And they started so early."

Jensen lets out a snort of laughter. "They work at a summer camp. Or at least he does, I don't know about her."

Leighton raises her eyebrows, and glances back over at Jared. "Oh my god," she says, grin breaking out. "You totally like him. He is the reason you never flirt with the hot boys who check you out. You are hopelessly crushing on tall, dark, and goofy over there."

"He's not goofy!" says Jensen, although he totally is. And he's mostly stalling so he doesn't have to deal with the fact that she's right. Although probably defending him loudly isn't gonna help.

Jared Padalecki moved to D.C. from Texas in seventh grade, and he was tall and gangly, but great at sports and attractive to girls (and Jensen), so everyone thought the accent was dreamy, not dorky, and Jared is popular and Jensen is still the fat, awkward kid from Texas.

First impressions stick.

"Besides, he's probably dating Danneel, she's really popular and pretty and stuff," he adds lamely.

"That's the redhead?" asks Leighton, craning her neck to look. Jared is crouched down, talking to the kids on their own level. They're all wearing matching green t-shirts that say "Jared and Danni's campers" on them. It's adorably cultish and Jensen kind of hates them all.

"Yeah," says Jensen morosely. "God, I should go before they see me. I can do that, right?"

"Do what, exactly?" asks Leighton dubiously. "Quit your job to avoid your crush and a girl he may or may not be dating?"

"Everything sounds stupid when you spell it out like that," Jensen grumbles.

Leighton sighs. "Just stay here. They might not even come by you."

Jensen is, admittedly, at one of the least popular discovery carts, which is why Leighton is chatting with him in the first place. "True," he acknowledges.

"Anyway, I have to go back to doing my rounds," she says, petting his arm. "I'm sure you'll be fine and they'll be gone soon."

"Thanks," says Jensen, mostly genuinely.

He watches, from a distance, as Jared and Danneel split the kids into two groups and then break up, which makes him feel better. Part of why he likes Jared is that he's never been a jerk, but he's found people's dickish tendencies increase when they're around girls they want to impress. And Danneel herself is kind of a mystery, although if Jensen's honest, he's kind of avoided getting to know anything about her because he's afraid she'll turn out to be a decent person, and then it will be much harder to hate her for dating Jared.

So, of course, he group heads straight toward the exhibit he's outside of, and immediately notices him as her kids go in.

"Oh, hey Jensen!" she says brightly, with an apparently genuine smile. "Jared said you worked here."

"Uh, yeah," says Jensen, kind of surprised by that. "Just for the summer, you know. Extra cash."

Danneel smiles, jerking her head towards the kids. "Trust me, I know. I can't believe I let Jared talk me into working with a bunch of kids. _And_ Chad and Jake."

Jensen winces. Chad and Jake are the two biggest jerkasses he knows, pretty much. They are also, inexplicably, Jared's best friends.

"Yeah, I'm with you," says Danneel conspiratorially. "Jared's awesome, but he has shitty taste in friends."

Jensen smiles against his will. "We've never gotten along, yeah," he agrees, which is not _quite_ the understatement of the century, but it comes close. Jake once actually put his head in a toilet freshman year. Jensen is pretty sure Jared doesn't have a clue.

Danneel smiles. "So what are you doing here? Is it educational? Should I be using it to enrich my campers?"

Jensen laughs. "Yeah, sure. I'm teaching what things in the universe are biggest, oldest, and closest. Very enriching."

Danneel's smile upgrades to a grin. "Okay, I'll go round them up."

*

When Jensen sees a kid in a pink t-shirt that says "Jake and Julie's campers" about fifteen minutes after Danneel (who is very nice and very sweet and _fuck her_ , seriously) leaves, he feels a distinct sinking feeling, like his stomach has decided to relocate to his knees.

Maybe, he thinks wildly, the counselor following the kid will be this Julie person. Jensen doesn't know a Julie, but that's a great thing in this case--if he doesn't know her, that means she doesn't have a history of verbally and physically abusing him.

Of course, no such luck, and Jake Abel swaggers up after the kids instead. Jensen doesn't understand how it's possible for someone's _walk_ to scream _asshole_ as clearly as Jake's does, but he guesses if you're that big an asshole, it just leaks out into everything else you do.

He spots Jensen instantly, of course, and says, "Oh, shit, Chad _told_ me that Fat Ass-cles worked here, but I figured he was full of shit."

Jensen takes a deep breath and lets it out, assuming his most pleasant _I respect your opinions, if you'd like to leave a comment explaining why space travel is an affront to the lord please visit the information desk_ smile. "Sir, this is a family museum and we must request that you keep your language appropriate," he says brightly.

Jake gives him a look that borders on murderous. Jensen's not actually afraid of him--around sophomore year was when he started working out and dropped most of his baby fat, and ever since then Jake has clearly been reluctant to try anything physical. Besides, Jensen has a walkie-talkie that he can use to call a manager, or security, and Jake is surrounded by a bunch of kids he's supposed to be supervising.

Jensen takes a second to wonder why anyone would let Jake supervise children. Hiring people are _stupid_.

Jake steps in close and grabs the front of Jensen's shirt. "Ackles, I swear to God, I'm gonna kick your fucking--"

"Jake!"

Jensen and Jake both turn at the voice because--yeah, that's definitely Jared. Jensen, who was going for his walkie, waits. He's wondering what Jared is gonna do here.

"What the heck, man?" he says, jogging over to pull Jake off Jensen.

"Use your _words_ ," says one of Jared's kids. She can't be older than five or so, and Jensen can't help laughing.

Jared gives him a smile at that, which makes his heart turn over.

"He's being a dou--jerk," says Jake, glaring at Jensen.

"Uh huh," says Jared. "He told you off for swearing and you decided you wanted to fight him. I'm pretty sure I know who the jerk here is, man."

"Don't see why you like the little faggot anyway," Jake mutters, and he sounds _jealous_.

Jensen feels a little lost.

He hears Jared take a few deep breaths, like he's trying to remind _himself_ to use his words.

"Sir, I did warn you about language," says Jensen evenly. "I will call my manager if I have to."

"You--" starts Jake, and Jared gets between them again.

"Hey, guys," Jared says brightly to his campers. "You go on into the exhibit, we're gonna watch you from out here."

"But we wanna watch you kick Jake's ass!" says a ten-year-old girl.

"This is a family establishment," Jensen tells her too, just to be fair. "Please watch your language."

"Jensen's right. Also, no one is doing any kicking of anything, so just get in there and do some learning, Tiff."

The older kids manage to round up the younger kids, and Jake tries to bail, but Jared's holding his arm.

"Do you need to call your manager?" Jared asks Jensen, with an apologetic smile.

"Not yet," says Jensen. As stupid as he feels admitting it, he's kind of enjoying Jared protecting him. No one must ever know. "If you can get him to just leave me alone it's a lot easier for everyone. We don't have to disrupt your trip."

"Jake, take your kids and scram," says Jared.

"You're not my boss, Padalecki," says Jake rebelliously.

"Yeah, but I'm the guy who's gonna report you for swearing and fighting in front of the kids," says Jared evenly. "I don't want you ruining their day just because _you're_ a--" he glances at Jensen and smiles. "Word I can't say in a family setting."

Jake and Jared seem to be waging a silent war, but then Jake turns without a word and stalks into the exhibit. Jared and Jensen are quiet as Jake leads his kids out, tossing glares back at both of them. Jensen really has no idea what his problem is.

When they're finally gone, Jared turns to Jensen. "Man, I knew he didn't like you, but I had no idea--"

"I think he got pissed I was being so calm," Jensen admits, scratching the back of his head. "But I've got a lot of experience dealing with angry visitors by now. He's just not that special anymore."

Jared laughs and smiles, and Jensen kind of _aches_. Now that Jake is gone and he's just talking to _Jared Padalecki_ , he's feeling nervous and twitterpated, with no idea what he's supposed to do.

"Sorry I--I mean, I know you don't like me much, so I figure I'm not supposed to--you know," says Jared nervously, making a vague gesture with his hand.

"Save me?" Jensen asks, dryly. He gives Jared a smile. "I don't mind. And I like you fine, man."

Jared looks surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, aside from your truly lousy taste in friends," says Jensen.

"But, um--you never talk to me?" says Jared, ducking his head.

Jensen blinks. He didn't really think Jared had noticed that. "Yeah, well--I was kind of afraid you'd ruin my good opinion of you," he mutters. "I mean, you are friends with Jake and Chad."

"Kind of," says Jared, shrugging. "I mean, we're all on the same teams and stuff so we hang out, but I like Danneel a lot better."

"Well, yeah, she's your girlfriend," says Jensen unthinkingly.

"Uh, no," says Jared, sounding confused. "She's cool and all, but I'm gay, so--no."

Jensen jerks his head up. "Wait, seriously?"

Jared laughs a little nervously. "Well, yeah." He groans. "Oh god, you didn't know. I thought you just really didn't want me asking you out because you hated me." He flushes bright red. "And now you know I wanted to ask you out and--oh boy, I should go supervise my campers before I confess that I used to run around with my underwear on my head and call myself Captain Warlock."

Jensen can't help laughing too. "Captain Warlock?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, and that's, you know, horribly embarrassing to tell the guy you're crushing on, so I'm just gonna--" says Jared, but Jensen catches his arm, leans across the discovery cart, and kisses him. He really has no idea how he has the guts, but Jared makes a pleased little noise, and grasps Jensen's shirt to keep him from pulling back. Like Jensen was going to--he is _kissing Jared Padalecki_. Obviously he's not interested in stopping anytime soon.

"Padalecki, make out on your own time," someone says, and Jared barely pulls back, a wild grin on his face when he looks at Jensen.

"Hey, you want to go out with me sometime?" he asks. "I'll beat up Chad and Jake first if you want."

Jensen laughs. "How about we start with dinner and move onto beatings from there?" he suggests.

Jared pulls back, glancing over at Danneel, who's looking very amused. "Hi, Danneel," he says, still grinning. "I, um, am definitely supervising the kids. Really."

"Which explains why Ned is licking Robbie," says Danneel dryly.

"He probably saw us and thought it was a good idea," says Jensen, with an innocent smile.

Jared apparently can't _stop_ grinning. "So, um--I'll call you?" he says hopefully.

"I get off at six," says Jensen. "If you're free tonight."

Jared's grin somehow _widens_. Jensen's not sure how it's possible. "Yeah," he says. "Totally, completely free."

"Well," says Jensen, feeling his own smile coming on stronger. "Not anymore."


End file.
